Bundle of summaries of articles on the history and application of psychology.
Originally written by Rachel Wong.
Lorch, M., & Hellal, P. (2010). Darwin’s “Natural Science of Babies.” Journal of the History of the Neurosciences, 19(2), 140–157
Darwin's "Natural Science of Babies" is believed to be one of the first empirical studies of child development, written by an English author, and was probably prompted by Hippolyte Taine's diary account on early childhood language
........Read moreDarwin, C. (1877). A Biographical Sketch of an Infant. Mind, 2(7), 285–294
After reading a publication in MIND, where Taine described his child's journey through language acquisition, Charles Darwin began keeping a record of empirical observations of his son, William Erasmus's, development. He described the age at which emotions, such as anger, fear,
........Read moreGalton, F. (1904). Eugenics: Its Definition, Scope, and Aims. American Journal of Sociology, 10(1), 1–6.
Eugenics was defined as the science that deals with all the influences that improve the inborn qualities of a race. In this paper, Galton discusses producing a “highly gifted race of man” by the process of selective breeding,
........Read moreFancher, R. E. (1983). Biographical Origins of Francis Galton’s Psychology. Isis, 74(2), 227–233.
Francis Galton believed in a positive relationship between intelligence and head size. Many claim that this belief came out of vanity; however, Galton's head was actually quite small. In terms of his intelligence, Galton is believed to have had a
........Read moreJacobson, N., Martell, C., & Dimidjian, S. (2001). Behavioral Activation Treatment for Depression: Returning to Contextual Roots.Clinical Psychology: Science And Practice, 8(3), 255-270.
In 1990, an experiment by Jackson et al. was done to determine the extent to which the behavioural activation (BA) component of cognitive therapy (CT) could account for
........Read moreWrobel, S. (2007). Science, serotonin, and sadness: the biology of antidepressants: A series for the public. The FASEB Journal, 21(13), 3404-3417.
Fluoxetine was trademarked as Prozac in 1988, arriving in the U.S.A. This new drug was critically acclaimed at the time and is still used by millions of
........Read moreCruwys, T., Alexander Haslam, S., Dingle, G., Jetten, J., Hornsey, M., Desdemona Chong, E., & Oei, T. (2014). Feeling connected again: Interventions that increase social identification reduce depression symptoms in community and clinical settings. Journal of Affective DIsorders, 159, 139 - 146.
Overholser, J. (2003). Cognitive-behavioral treatment of depression: A three-stage model to guide treatment planning. Cognitive And Behavioral Practice, 10(3), 231-239.
Depression is a complex disorder involving many different factors. Therapy may aid greatly if it is suited to the client's specific needs. Cognitive-Behavioral therapy is a three-stage model that integrates
........Read moreMarkland, D., Ryan, R., Tobin, V., & Rollnick, S. (2005). Motivational Interviewing and Self–Determination Theory. Journal Of Social And Clinical Psychology, 24(6), 811-831.
Motivational Interviewing and adaptations of motivational interviewing (AMIs) have become extensively accepted as a counseling style changing maladaptive behaviours such as problems with alcohol and drugs, smoking cessation, HIV prevention among drug users,
........Read moreGagné, M., & Deci, E. (2005). Self-determination theory and work motivation. Journal Of Organizational Behavior, 26(4), 331-362.
The dichotomy between extrinsic and intrinsic motivation in cognitive evaluation theory, which explains the effects of extrinsic motivators on intrinsic motivation, made it difficult to apply the theories to work settings. Emphasizing different types of extrinsic motivation, which differ
........Read moreThis article provides 12 tips that can be used to stimulate intrinsic
........Read moreCattell, J. M. (1948). The influence of the intensity of the stimulus on the length of the reaction time, 1885. In W. Dennis (Ed), Readings in the history of psychology. (pp. 323–325). East Norwalk, CT, US: Appleton-Century-Crofts.
After the work of Wundt, Exner, and
........Read moreBenschop, R., & Draaisma, D. (2000). In pursuit of precision: The calibration of minds and machines in late nineteenth-century psychology. Annals Of Science, 57(1), 1–25.
The measurements have to be exact and observations as accurate as possible, instruments should register even small differences and yield
........Read moreWitmer, L. (1907). Clinical Psychology. Reprinted in American Psychologist, 51(3), 248–251.
In the late eighties under laboratory of psychology at the University of Pennsylvania had conducted „psychological clinic” under the Witmer's supervision. Children from the public schools of Philadelphia and neighbor places have been brought to the laboratory by their parents or teachers. Those children were brought
........Read moreMcReynolds, P. (1987). Lightner Witmer: Little-known founder of clinical psychology. American Psychologist, 42(9), 849–858.
Lightner Witmer started the first psychological clinic in 1896 and was important in establishing the field of clinical psychology. He took his doctorate under Wilhem Wundt and was a charter member of the American Psychological Association. Even though
........Read moreHoward, R. (2009). Alfred Binet - a truly applied psychologist. Psychologist, 22(3), 278–279.
Alfred Binet, was a psychologist that created the Stanford-Binet IQ test, the Binet-Simon test. His aim in his tests was to classify the educational properties of the children, and not to quantify them.
Binet focused on a test that
........Read moreGilbreth, L. M. (1929). Efficiency of Women Workers. Annals of the American Academy of Political and Social Science, 143, 61–64.
The basics of efficiency means a work load that has been done, in the shortest time possible, with the greatest amount of satisfaction and the least amount of effort. The most study progress that has
........Read moreBinet, A., & Henri, V. (2011/1894). Natural suggestibility in children. Consciousness and Cognition, 20(2), 394–398.
In past studies, researchers used certain conditions, such as sleep, on their subjects to increase the power of suggestibility on people that were susceptible to it. In this way, researchers caused subjects to have hallucinations, warped concepts etc. while their
........Read moreKrenn, M. (2011). From scientific management to homemaking: Lillian M. Gilbreth’s contributions to the development of management thought. Management & Organizational History, 6(2), 145 –161.
Lillian Moller Gilbreth was one of the pioneers of management theory. She is renowned as the "First lady
........Read moreInzlicht, M., Legault, L., & Teper, R. (2014). Exploring the Mechanisms of Self-Control Improvement. Current Directions In Psychological Science, 23(4), 302-307. http://dx.doi.org/10.1177/0963721414534256
Self-control, also known as willpower or executive function, is thought to be one of the most significant underlying factors in many behaviours. It can be defined as the mental processes that allow people to
........Read moreClark, N., & Zimmerman, B. (2014). A Social Cognitive View of Self-Regulated Learning About Health. Health Education & Behavior, 41(5), 485-491. http://dx.doi.org/10.1177/1090198114547512
This article presents a social cognitive view of self-regulation that involves three classes of influence on self-regulating behavior: personal, behavioral, and environmental. This triadic model assumes that
........Read moreGollwitzer, P. (1999). Implementation intentions: Strong effects of simple plans. American Psychologist, 54(7), 493-503. http://dx.doi.org/10.1037/0003-066x.54.7.493
The successful pursuit of goals consists of strongly committing to goals and effectively implementing them. However, the sole act of strongly committing to a goal may not be sufficient because goal achievement may be hindered by problems, such as failing to
........Read moreBlouin-Hudon, E., & Pychyl, T. (2015). Experiencing the temporally extended self: Initial support for the role of affective states, vivid mental imagery, and future self-continuity in the prediction of academic procrastination. Personality And Individual Differences, 86, 50-56. http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.paid.2015.06.003
A common problem when dealing with boring, challenging, or unfulfilling tasks is simply getting started on
........Read moreGlick, D., & Orsillo, S. (2015). An investigation of the efficacy of acceptance-based behavioral therapy for academic procrastination. Journal Of Experimental Psychology: General, 144(2), 400-409. http://dx.doi.org/10.1037/xge0000050
Procrastination, a problem associated with poorer performance and mental functioning, is widespread among college students. While this issue has persisted for decades, a "gold standard" treatment option has
........Read moreForgeard, M., & Seligman, M. (2012). Seeing the glass half full: A review of the causes and consequences of optimism. Pratiques Psychologiques, 18(2), 107-120.
The psychological trait of optimism influences how individuals perceive themselves and their environment, how they process incoming information, as well as
........Read moreWood, A., Froh, J., & Geraghty, A. (2010). Gratitude and well-being: A review and theoretical integration. Clinical Psychology Review, 30(7), 890-905.
The goal of the paper is to present a new model of gratitude (gratitude for receiving help but also by focusing and appreciating positive aspects of life; which is a
........Read moreAlgoe, S. (2012). Find, Remind, and Bind: The Functions of Gratitude in Everyday Relationships. Social And Personality Psychology Compass, 6(6), 455-469.
The "find, remind, and bind" theory of gratitude proposes that these three key actions are essential in strengthening a relationship with an interaction partner. This article claims
........Read moreThe article suggests that, despite several barriers withholding people to increase their well-being, less happy people can successfully strive to be happier by learning a variety of effortful strategies and practicing these with determination and commitment. They use the sustainable happiness model (by Lyubomirsky, Sheldon and Schkade, 2005) as theoretical
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